Stage. Back stage.

Akalaitis Is Back At Court With `Life Is A Dream'

September 17, 1999|By Chris Jones.

"I am," says JoAnne Akalaitis, "not very articulate about this play."

The vaunted director is sitting in a Hyde Park coffee shop chatting about "Life Is a Dream," the 1636 drama by Pedro Calderon de la Barca that might reasonably be understood as a philosophical allegory about life, death and the mysteries thereof.

Although Calderon's works are hardly offered on a weekly basis in Chicago, one or another of the 100 surviving plays by this great Spanish dramatist shows up here from time to time. Bailiwick Repertory produced "Life Is a Dream" some years ago and the European Repertory Theatre had success with another Calderon epic, "The Mayor of Zalamea."

In Adrian Mitchell and John Barton's translation, Akalaitis' Court Theatre production of "Dream" opens Sunday.

Despite all the criticisms that have been flung at her over the years, Akalaitis, -- unquestionably one of the American theater's most controversial directors -- has never been accused of being inarticulate. She is, after all, a theatrical auteur with a truly formidable intellect. While she realizes being interviewed is part of the obligation of working at a resident theater in a crowded market, Akalaitis is clearly no great fan of sitting around cafes talking about her work-in-progress (and she openly dislikes most theater critics). But she grits her teeth and bears it.

"Calderon writes about fate, free will and absolute honor," Akalaitis says, suggesting that the playwright's "Dream" has a great deal in common with Strindberg's "A Dream Play." "Calderon is really writing about the theater itself."

Although she once briefly ran New York's acclaimed Public Theatre, Akalaitis' work has always been better received in Chicago than Manhattan. For example, her revisionist Court Theatre production of "The Iphigenia Cycle" was highly regarded here but met with a largely negative response from New York critics. The young star of that classical production, Anne Dudek, was originally slated to perform a lead role in "Life Is a Dream," but she was subsequently offered a role on Broadway in David Hairson's "Wrong Mountain" and had to be replaced early in the rehearsal process.

Still, Akalaitis is clearly thrilled with her Court Theatre ensemble.

"There are so few productions of classical plays in New York," she says. "And Chicago actors work so much harder than they do in New York."

So will we be seeing more Akalaitis productions as part of the Court's new long-term commitment to becoming an American home for the classical repertory?

"JoAnne's production of `Iphigenia' was a major catalyst for a lot of our growth," says the Court's artistic director, Charles Newell. "She's a director with the kind of national reputation we want to cultivate. And we want her to keep coming back."

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The various consulate generals in Chicago are becoming increasingly active -- although often still unsung -- supporters of this city's theaters. The Consulate General of France, for example, is running an impressive grant program aimed at encouraging smaller Chicago theaters to include contemporary French playwrights in their repertoires. And the Canadian Consulate General has put a great deal of muscle behind the promotion of "Above the Line," its symposium and series of readings of new Canadian plays.

Beginning Thursday and lasting through Sept. 25, a number of public readings of new plays will be held at major theaters such as Steppenwolf (reading Michael Healey and Kate Lynch's "Road to Hell" on Sept. 24) and the Goodman (reading Connie Gault's "Red Lips" on Sept. 25). But most intriguing of them all is the newest play by the superb writer Judith Thompson ("Crackwalker"). Thompson's "Perfect Pie" will be read at Chicago Dramatists on Sept. 25. The playwright herself will be present.